The Guardian profiles the music of Captain Beefheart, and XRC's Andy Partridge shares his introduction to the band.

"At some point, he said, 'You've got to try Trout Mask Replica.' And I put it on and just thought, 'What the f*ck is this? They're mucking about! They can't even play their instruments: they're all out of tune, the drummer can't drum in time, the singer's not even singing, he's just growling.' But Spud said, 'No, no - stick with it. You will get it.' And I eventually had a road-to-Damascus experience: this sudden revelation. It just clicked."

MP3.com: So you've been through this cycle a number of times now: the writing and the recording and the promoting and the performing live and all that stuff. Which part of it all do you enjoy the most?

BO: I think my most beloved part is, essentially, the bit where a new song [comes]. Where I sit down and a new song just, kind of, appears out of nowhere. I can tell you that that is the most connected, sort of joyful, I don't know, [putting the words] to the right feelings anyways, really. It is really just wonderful.

"I really like traditional American country blues like Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotton. I discovered that stuff when I came to Seattle and I became more interested in old American music. I found a really cool teacher who introduced me to the kind of people who were influential to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez back in the 60s."

Both Bazan and Hook got a chance to spin the discs on their car ride back to Madison. Hook says Hughes’ disc sports Tom Petty, Pet Shop Boys, The Baptist Generals and several Franklin Bruno tracks. Bazan classifies Darnielle’s first disc as Europop and the second as a heavy slab of metal (he names Ozzy as an artist he recognizes).

“It was an amazing chance to get a piece of Mountain Goats history, to buy something that Darnielle worked on with his hands,” says Bazan.

“A number of people have pointed out to me that the compulsive attention I paid the house while I was doing the book was exactly what my dad had done,” Ms. Bechdel said. “It seems sort of obvious now, but it really never occurred to me at the time.”

The Roanoke Times examines freshman reading projects at local colleges.

For many high school students, summer reading is nothing new.

Ryan Scott and Matthew Via, two incoming Hokies in engineering from Midlothian who attended last week's orientation sessions, said they had to read books every summer in high school.

"As long as they're not burdensome, I don't mind," Via said. "If I have to read one book in three weeks, it's not going to kill me."